Reviews tagging 'Police brutality'

Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood by Trevor Noah

85 reviews

niamhellen's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional hopeful reflective fast-paced

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Colonisation, Domestic abuse, Alcoholism, Alcohol, Gun violence, Misogyny, Police brutality, Physical abuse, Racism, and Racial slurs

alayamorning's review against another edition

challenging emotional funny hopeful informative lighthearted reflective fast-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Domestic abuse, Racism, Toxic relationship, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Child abuse, Hate crime, Misogyny, and Physical abuse

Moderate: Rape, Police brutality, and Slavery

Minor: Suicidal thoughts

remy_licked_my_book's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional funny informative inspiring reflective tense fast-paced

5.0

This is hands down the best book I've read this year. This book should be read by everyone. I loved that it was a mix of personal stories of growing up in apartheid south Africa as well as the history of apartheid. This is truly an homage to Trevor's incredibly resilient mother who raises him as a single mom for a lot of his life. Trevor presents the facts without it feeling too traumatic. What I mean is that he manages to tell these stories in a way that make it so anyone can read it without becoming too triggered by anything.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Blood, Bullying, Body shaming, Child abuse, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Hate crime, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Racial slurs, Racism, and Toxic relationship

epellicci's review against another edition

emotional informative inspiring fast-paced

5.0

This is such an incredible book, made all the more rich by Noah's performance of it. Born a Crime details stories from Noah's youth as a mixed child during Apartheid. Noah's natural wit is present throughout the whole book, balanced expertly with honest, insightful, and emotional storytelling. It was an eye-opening view into the real and personal experience of living through pre- and post-apartheid. Despite the serious and emotionally taxing nature of the stories, this book is easy to read due to Noah's effortless storytelling. The running narrative surrounding him finding his place in a world were he shouldn't have existed, and constantly pushed back against him because of this, was deeply moving. Noah's personality and the strength of his relationships with his family - particularly his mother -  shone throughout. 
I found that listening to this book brought to life the characters and language of Noah's life in a way that I could not have done justice to by reading it in paper format, and so would wholeheartedly recommend the audiobook if you can access it.  

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Racism, Toxic relationship, and Violence

Moderate: Gun violence and Medical content

Minor: Alcoholism and Police brutality

tinana's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny informative reflective sad medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Police brutality, Racism, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Alcoholism, Blood, Child abuse, Gun violence, and Misogyny

Minor: Animal death

dorakathryn's review against another edition

emotional funny medium-paced

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Alcoholism, Physical abuse, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Violence, Hate crime, Misogyny, Police brutality, Sexism, Racism, Bullying, Racial slurs, Blood, and Mental illness

empathephant's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional funny informative inspiring lighthearted reflective sad tense medium-paced

4.0

This book was different than I expected it to be (in a great way). I thought it would be more of a linear story that focused a lot on how he got to be a comedian/TV personality, but after reading I still have no clue about his early career. What it did talk about was his childhood. I knew it would discuss the effects of Apartheid, but each chapter was organized somewhat topically, string together personal stories examples and jumping in time to illustrate concepts of what South African life was like more than "his life story." I learned so much that I hadn't known previously about South Africa as an American. I highly recommend the audiobook. It is narrated by Trevor himself and he tells his story emotionally and powerfully, speaking many languages and even singing at one point. He made me laugh and feel sorrow and fear in the same book, making it easier to approach the heavy topics found within.

I think what another review said is a perfect description: "I...admired how he [told] his story as it is. He had every chance to glorify the life he lived in South Africa and he did not. To me, it was more like he wrote the book to shed light on the circumstances that kids like him grew up in rather than talk about his own life."

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Child abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Murder, Physical abuse, Racism, and Violence

Moderate: Alcoholism, Animal death, Confinement, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Hate crime, Medical content, Medical trauma, and Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Addiction, Animal cruelty, Misogyny, Police brutality, Rape, and Slavery

The last chapter contains the most graphic descriptions of violence.

milliebrierley's review against another edition

dark emotional funny informative medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Blood, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Gun violence, Kidnapping, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, and Violence

Minor: Suicidal thoughts and Slavery

befreckledbookworm's review against another edition

emotional funny inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

5.0

Wow.
Just wow.
This book was absolutely amazing.
I’m not a huge nonfiction reader, but I love Trevor’s comedy specials and I’d heard good things about his book, so I picked it up from my school library. 
He’s a mama’s boy, but not in the way where he’s thirty-something and living in his mom’s basement. Their relationship is like Lorelai and Rory from Gilmore Girls, kind of. They fight and yell at each other, but in the end, they love each other and can always make each other laugh. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Bullying, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Excrement, Gun violence, Medical content, Physical abuse, Police brutality, and Racism

adoras's review

adventurous dark emotional hopeful informative lighthearted reflective fast-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Child abuse, Excrement, Gun violence, Police brutality, Racial slurs, Racism, Toxic relationship, and Violence

Moderate: Alcoholism, Death, Vomit, and Xenophobia

Minor: Antisemitism, Drug use, and Rape